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Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Town hall discusses Tenants' Bill of Rights USG makes plans to create a Student Tenants' Association to hold landlords accountable. By: Natalie Jarvey Posted: 9/19/07 Students came together Tuesday night at the Undergraduate Student Government Town Hall to air out longtime concerns and find solutions for off-campus housing woes.The focus of the evening was USG's plans for a Student Tenants' Association, which includes an off-campus housing website with resources for students and a Tenants' Bill of Rights.
The Student Tenants' Association has been in the works since USC President Sahil Chaudry and USG Vice President Max Slavkin took office in the spring.
Although the housing website went live on Tuesday, it is still in its beginning phase and will continue to evolve, said Paul Jansson, USG director of residential affairs.
It is expected to provide resources for students to find housing around USC, discuss landlord complaints and take legal action against landlords if necessary.
The Tenants' Bill of Rights will keep landlords accountable to their tenants in ways such as fixing problems quickly and keeping conditions liveable, Chaudry and Slavkin said.
Landlords that sign the Tenants' Bill of Rights will then be endorsed by the university through the accompanying website as an acceptable housing option, they added.
USG has been receiving complaints about housing from students over the last several years and felt it was time to make a change, said Caitlin Mattias, USG senior director of communications.
"A lot of students come to us and say 'I haven't gotten my security deposit or my air conditioning has been out for three weeks,'" Mattias said. "There are a lot of problems with landlords."
By using a Town Hall format, Slavkin sought to provide a forum for students to voice their housing concerns and to educate students on their rights as tenants in non-university housing.
"Everyone knows there is a problem, the forum will be used to help students follow the right steps," he said.
Many students such as Brad Zazzara, a sophomore majoring in business and psychology, need guidance in learning how to deal with landlords.
"We are just starting to live on our own and most of us don't know hardly enough about what our rights are," Zazzara said.
Despite wanting to protect students from landlords, Slavkin said that the Student Tenants' Association is not meant to drive housing companies out of business.
"We need housing. We just want to show landlords that they can't keep doing what they've been doing," he said. "If they break the law, we will call them out on it."
Housing complaint forms were passed out at the beginning of the meeting and Slavkin prefaced the event by saying that complaints should be limited to these cards and not brought into discussion regarding student action.
Meredith Hankins, a junior majoring in chemical engineering who sued Conquest Housing in a small claims court this summer after she did not receive her security deposit within 21 days of ending her lease, spoke at the Town Hall.
"Know your rights. You can get your problems solved," Hankins told students.
In order to inform students of their rights, Slavkin presented a PowerPoint with resources for students to take advantage of as well as important tenant laws within the state of California.
One point they stressed throughout the night was keeping track of all deals with landlords, including photos of the living space and documentation of maintenance requests.
USG brought in David Payab, an attorney who specializes in housing and has informed USG about tenants' rights.
Payab, who also provides free legal counseling to students on Wednesdays, found that most of the complaints he received were related to housing.
He covered a variety of topics and informed students on how to protect themselves when signing contracts and entering into housing agreements with landlords.
"Overall, [the Tenants' Bill of Rights] will benefit students. Out-of-state students are not privy to certain local rules and this will educate them about what they can expect and protect their rights," Payab said.
He also sees the Tenants' Bill of Rights as beneficial for landlords because those landlords who enter into this agreement will be supported by USG and will, most likely, receive more business from USC students.
Although there was a large turnout, most students did not participate. Those who did chose to relate their own housing horror stories or ask Payab legal questions instead of giving feedback to USG.
Phillip Yang, a senior majoring in public policy and development, presented several ideas to USG about the housing website and what students would find beneficial.
"I think it needs to be a collaboration. It will be a great way to address common questions, show former student housing cases and increase awareness," Yang said.
A good friend of mine asked me, "Why do I need my own website?.... I have flickr, blogger, facebook, etc"
Good question, here are some good reasons why you might need your own website.
1. It will last forever
Once you purchase the domain name, it’s yours. It’s yours as long as you pay the yearly fee of $5-8 a year and in your lifetime of 50-70 years, that’s around $500-600 within your whole lifetime. You can keep it and do anything with it, without having to worry about anyone else owning something similar and writing bad things under your name. What if you get successful and someone banks off your name? Its an added cost to acquire that name and the frustration associated to getting people to your new website since someone already owns it.
2. Use it to market yourself
You can use this new website to market yourself and show to the world what you have to offer. How useful would it be if you can use this tool to showcase your portfolio? What about putting yourself under the light showcasing your resume and work history? It works, and employers look at this to see how savvy and successful your skills are on the internet.
3. Personal email address
Think about this, which is more professional? phillipyang@gmail.com? Or Phillip@phillipyang.com? Or me@phillipyang.com? I would rather prefer employers or business people to contact me directly through my own domain so that I can store and control how my internet gets handled. Gmail and Yahoo might be great, but privacy and storage becomes an issue. With your own website, its only as large as your hard drive. Plus its free publicity for your own website.
4. Unlimited applications
You can put anything on your website. I’m using a blog tool called moveabletype and anyone can post and create articles on your own website. Flickr is another application you can enable on your site, personal portfolio applications, forums, galleries, anything! You can get very creative and use web 2.0 type applications to enhance the functionality of your website
5. FTP and Storage
You can use your website as storage and a way to get files anywhere with an internet connection. Store your photos, documents and other important docs via FTP without having to carry around a USB connection. Just make sure you secure your FTP so everyone can’t get your personal files.